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Arsenal had been champions three years in a row, while Sunderland had finished runners-up the previous season, and this victory helped Johnny Cochrane’s side on its way to winning the title.

Two goals from Raich Carter - one a penalty - and one apiece from Bert Davis and Patsy Gallacher, gave Sunderland a 4-1 half-time lead, with Cliff Bastin replying from the penalty spot for the Gunners.

Ted Drake and Ray Bowden reduced the deficit to a single goal, but Jimmy Connor added a fifth for Sunderland, and that proved decisive even though Bowden pulled another back for the Londoners.

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Sunderland 3-1 Man City

Sunderland defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth-round replay in 1973

February 27, 1973

FA Cup 5th Round replay

Attendance: 51,782

This was the game voted by fans as Match of the Century when Roker Park closed in 1997, when it was still relatively fresh in the memory.

It was, of course, one of the staging posts on the road to Wembley and Sunderland’s glorious FA Cup triumph in 1973.

By the time Second Division Sunderland drew them in the fifth round, City were favourites to win the cup having already knocked out eventual league champions Liverpool, and League Cup holders Stoke City.

After a tremendous performance in a 2-2 draw in the original tie at Maine Road, the teams met again just three days later on Wearside.

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New signing Vic Halom opened the scoring with one of the sweetest goals ever scored at Roker Park, a carbon copy of Carlos Alberto’s strike for Brazil in the 1970 World Cup final. It was Pele who rolled the ball into the path of Carlos Alberto, and it was Bobby Kerr who provided the pass for Halom to crash an unstoppable shot across City’s England keeper Joe Corrigan into the top left-hand corner in front of the Fulwell End.

Billy Hughes doubled Sunderland’s lead before half-time, and although Colin Bell headed City back into the match early in the second period, Hughes struck again to restore the two-goal cushion for Bob Stokoe’s side, and secure a quarter-final spot.

Sunderland fans queue for tickets for the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Manchester City

Sunderland 2-2 Manchester United (aet)

This game saw what is thought to be the North East’s biggest-ever attendance at a football match.

Officially, the gate was under 47,000 but the gates at the Roker End were forced before kick-off, and fencing was cut at the Fulwell End, allowing tens of thousands more to flood into the ground.

The players were on a bonus of £5 per man for every 1,000 fans above 55,000, and they missed out on a windfall because the official attendance was the figure used!

A more sobering thought is that two fans died on the packed terraces.

The game itself came after the sides had drawn 3-3 at Old Trafford, with an injury late in the game to keeper Jimmy Montgomery proving costly as Sunderland let a 3-1 lead slip with less than five minutes remaining.

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Bobby Charlton, George Best, and Denis Law, were among the Man United players who headed to Wearside for the replay, but it was Nick Sharkey who put Sunderland ahead just before half-time with a stunning overhead kick.

Law levelled in the second half and the game went into extra-time, with an own-goal from Maurice Setters putting Sunderland back in front before Charlton equalised for a second time.

The second replay was staged at Huddersfield Town’s Leeds Road ground, and Man United came from behind to win 5-1.

Sunderland 5-0 Newcastle United

November 22, 1930

First Division

Attendance: 24,120

No list of great Roker Park occasions would be complete without a Wear-Tyne derby win.

The most emphatic victory in the history of the Sunderland-Newcastle rivalry was the Wearsiders’ 9-1 demolition job at St James’ Park in 1908, but this 5-0 hammering remains Sunderland’s biggest derby win on home soil.

Billy Eden and Jimmy Connor each scored twice, with Sunderland’s all-time record goalscorer Bobby Gurney also on the scoresheet.

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Sunderland 7-1 Arsenal

Sunderland’s ‘Bank of England’ side came from behind to thrash reigning champions Arsenal, in a game which saw Trevor Ford bag a hat-trick.

Doug Lishman had put Arsenal ahead midway through the first half, and with half-time approaching no-one could have guessed at the turnaround they were about to witness.

Len Shackleton and Ford combined for the latter to level seven minutes before the break, and just before the interval £26,000 signing Billy Elliot scored on his home debut to put Sunderland in front.

In the second period, Shackleton and Ford scored within two minutes of each other to take the game away from the Gunners, with Tommy Wright then adding two more in the space of four minutes, before Ford completed his hat-trick near the end.

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Sunderland 0-1 Derby County (aet)

March 8, 1933

FA Cup quarter-final replay

Attendance: 75,118

This game makes the list not because of the match itself, but because of the attendance.

The gate of 75,118 is the highest ever recorded at a game in the North East, although it is widely held that even more people crammed into Roker Park for the FA Cup replay against Manchester United in 1964.

So great was the crowd, and the danger of people being crushed, that the game kicked-off 15 minutes early.

The sides fought out a thrilling 4-4 draw in the original tie at the Baseball Ground, but there was to be no repeat of that drama in the replay on Wearside.

The game was goalless after 90 minutes, and Peter Ramage scored the Rams’ winner in extra time.

Sunderland 1-1 Derby County (aet)

October 29, 1973

League Cup 2nd round replay

Attendance: 38,975

Rod Belfitt, Sunderland's new signing just fails to make contact with a hard cross into the goalmouth in the League Cup match between Sunderland and Derby County at Roker Park in 1973 (Image: NCJ Archive)

A 2-2 draw in the original tie at the Baseball Ground set the stage for another Roker rollercoaster replay.

Since that first meeting three weeks earlier - the replay had been delayed due to Sunderland’s involvement in the European Cup Winners’ Cup - Derby boss Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor had resigned, with Dave Mackay taking charge of the Rams.

Derby had won the title in 1972 and would do so again in 1975, and they were fourth in the top flight when they arrived on Wearside.

And the game saw Colin Todd return to Roker Park for the first time since he left Sunderland for the Rams for a then-record £170,000 two-and-a-half years earlier.

Sunderland won the toss to stage the second replay 48 hours later, and this time a Vic Halom hat-trick saw them prevail.

Sunderland 5-1 Sheffield Wednesday

November 4, 1950

First Division

Attendance: 48,939

Sunderland's Trevor Ford

Trevor Ford’s home debut was some occasion.

The Swansea-born forward had been signed from Aston Villa for a record £29,500, and he wasted no time in making an impression at Roker Park.

Ford lashed a hat-trick against Sheffield Wednesday, with one of his shots struck with such force that it dislodged a post in front of the Fulwell End, and also broke the jaw of Owls defender Edgar Packard in a clash of heads.

Sunderland’s other goals that day came from Len Shackleton and Tommy Wright, with Doug Witcomb scoring Wednesday’s consolation.

Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea

March 18, 1992

FA Cup quarter-final replay

Attendance: 26,039

The Sunderland bench celebrate the win over Chelsea in the FA Cup sixth round, 1992

It is striking just how many stand-out games at Roker Park were cup ties.

And this one, on the road to Wembley in 1992, certainly did not disappoint.

The sides had drawn 1-1 in the original tie at Stamford Bridge in a televised Monday night game, and the cameras were back for the replay on Wearside.

Peter Davenport put Second Division Sunderland ahead in the first half but top flight Chelsea forced Tony Norman into a series of fine saves to protect his side’s advantage.

Eventually Dennis Wise equalised with just five minutes to go, but just as it seemed the game was set for extra-time, Gordon Armstrong met Brian Atkinson’s corner with a powerful header that beat Dave Beasant and sent the Roker End into rapture.

Sunderland 2-1 Charlton Athletic

April 18, 1964

Second Division

Attendance: 50,827

Captain Charlie Hurley leads his team out of the tunnel for a victory run around the Roker Park pitch after beating Charlton in 1964 (Image: Mirrorpix)

Sunderland suffered relegation from the top flight for the first time ever in 1958, ending their record as the only club that had never played outside Division One.

It took six years for them to return, and this was the game that clinched their first-ever promotion.

Going into the game, Sunderland were clear favourites for promotion because only defeat in their two remaining fixtures, along with wins for Preston North End in their own final two games, could upset the apple cart - and even then Preston would have to overturn a large goal-average deficit.

Charlton took the lead through Eddie Firmani and when news came that Preston were ahead at Bury, nerves began to jangle.

But George Herd’s short deflected off Addicks defender Brian Tocknell to level the scores, and then in the final minute Johnny Crossan scored the winner to put Sunderland back in the big time.

Bury had lost in any case, which means Sunderland would have been guaranteed promotion with a game to spare even if they had lost against Charlton.

Soviet Union 2-1 Hungary

July 23, 1966

World Cup quarter-final

Attendance: 26,844

A heading duel between Hungarian and Russian players during a World Cup match at Roker Park (Image: Hulton Archive)

The only game on this list in which Sunderland did not feature, the World Cup quarter-final between the Soviet Union and Hungary deserves a mention as the most prestigious fixture to have been hosted at Roker Park.

Eight stadia were selected for the 1966 World Cup finals, with the six Group 4 fixtures - a group which included the Soviet Union, Italy, Chile, and North Korea - split equally between Roker Park and Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park.

But Roker Park was also chosen to host the last-eight game which pitted Group 4 winners USSR against Group 3 runners-up Hungary.

A crowd of 26,844 watched Igor Chislenko put the USSR in front after only five minutes, with Valeriy Porkuyan doubling their lead immediately after half-time. Ferenc Bene pulled a goal back for Hungary just before the hour.